page_title: Tomb of the Augurs
section_title: Rear Wall
hierarchical_section_title: Tomb of the Augurs / Description / Rear Wall
caption_attribution_description: Painting on the back wall of the tomba degli auguri (tomb of the augurs)
context_page_description: The Tomb of the Augurs is an Etruscan burial chamber so called for by a misinterpretation of one of the fresco figures on the right wall thought to be a Roman priest known as an augur. The tomb is located within the Necropolis of Monterozzi and dates to around 530-520 BC. This tomb is one of the first tombs in Tarquinia to have figural decoration on all four walls of its main or only chamber. The wall decoration was frescoed between 530-520 BC by an Ionian Greek painter, perhaps from Phocaea, whose style was associated with that of the Northern Ionic workers active in Elmali. This tomb is also the first time a theme not of mythology, but instead depictions of funerary rites and funerary games are seen.
context_section_description: On the center of the rear wall a painted door is placed. Scholars differ on interpretations of what the door denotes. Some interpret the door as a representational illustration of the door to the tomb. It is, however, more likely interpreted by scholars as a symbolic door or portal to the Underworld that acts as a barrier between the kingdom of the living and the kingdom of the dead. Two figures on either side of the door each extend one arm towards the door and the other arm places the hand against their forehead in a gesture of salutation and mourning. The two men scholars either interpret as augurs or as mourners who are relatives of the deceased. The latter is thought to be the more accepted interpretation of the two figures since reading the name written on the wall next to the men, Apastanasar, contains the root of apa which means father. Above the door shows a lion and leopard killing a deer.
caption: Painting on the rear wall
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